Startup Stories: Made With Intent’s David Mannheim talks changing the perspective of e-commerce for the better

RTIH gets the lowdown on Made With Intent, a UK startup that has developed a platform helping online retailers to understand and target customer intent. The company recently raised £1.5 million in seed funding and will use the cash to support its fully remote team of 15 with their product, marketing and partnership efforts.

RTIH: Tell us about yourself and Made With Intent

DM: Me? Well. I'm a Disney fanatic that cares about doing the right thing. Having working on conversion optimisation all my life, founding a consultancy and successfully exiting that I sought my next venture. Something with purpose. 

I found that in Made With Intent. As a retailer, imagine being able to understand the intent of your audience. The ability to optimise how you sell, with how people actually buy.

We help retailers understand the intent of their audience by looking at the signals that they leave behind, modelling those using our proprietary LLM into something meaningful.

Are they browsing? Or buying? And if so, what should you do about that? Seeing the context of where users actually are gives you the ability to be more appropriate in how you sell. 

RTIH: What was the inspiration behind setting the company up?

DM: Honestly? Football. 

Expected goals (xG) is a metric that revolutionised the football world. It focused on the quality of the shot, not the number of shots. A metric that helped coaches understand performance, less so results.

The problem that Optasports solved is the same problem that stagnates the e-commerce industry. It's not about putting more in the top of the hopper and hooing to get more out. That's inefficient and abides by the Google and Meta overlords policy of paying for traffic.

Understanding the intent of your audience allows you to really focus on those who matter, who might convert, if not now, then one day. Performance, over results. 

RTIH: What has been the industry reaction thus far?

DM: Complete resonation.

The e-commerce industry is not necessarily flawed. But certainly entrenched. There's an imbalance between short-termist tactics designed to make a quick buck, versus nurturing and being more personal with potential customers.

There's a clear desire for this level of customer centricity and a real community of people out there, but an appreciation that eCommerce is entrenched in a set way of a working. Conversion rate rules all because of its simplicity so changing that metric requires education and coaching. 

RTIH: What are the biggest challenges facing online retailers right now?

DM: Short-term pressure. 

Specifically, short term pressure leads to short-termist tactics. The continual discounting. The "welcome to our site, quick, here's 10% off" pop up that greets you as you enter.

The "50 people are looking at this," despite the fact you're just browsing. In short, dare I say, the overt desperation to convert someone there and then. 

It's understandable; the pressure of weekly trading meetings, monthly targets, quarterly budgets, and annual forecasts is weighty. But there's a balance to be made and we think by understanding the intent of the audience gives a reminder that we don't need to be so direct in our approach.

In fact, by being more appropriate and aware of people's buying stages, we can create more impact. 

RTIH: What's the best question about your company or the market asked of you recently by a.) an investor and b.) a customer?

DM: From investors, I liked the question "what are you looking for in an investor?".

My answer was always consistent: conviction. It sniffed out the investors that were looking for money, it highlighted my desire for a more empathic bond between investor and Made With Intent (shock horror, that's what we're promoting here, is it not?) 

The best question by a customer or prospect is "how do you know you've been successful with a customer?".

My answer is usually, when intent metrics are within the weekly trading meetings and part of the C-Suite discussion. Thats a perspective change and a half, right there. 

RTIH: What can we expect to see from Made With Intent during 2024 and beyond?

DM: Our mission is to change the perspective of e-commerce for the better.

We believe e-commerce desperately needs to move from digital directness to something more personal; something more appropriate.

Expect content. Evidence. Coaching. And all for free. That mission is about the industry; it's not about us.

If we can find some balance in the e-commerce world between being more personal and being more profitable, we will have succeeded.